Nantucket AKA Normal Experiences of Teenagerhood
by cinnamon108
Summary: It's late at night in the Burrow and the Weasley's are waiting anxiously for the golden trio to arrive home. DH compliant


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except the storyline

**Nantucket:**

**A.K.A. Normal Experiences of Teenagerhood**

Mr Weasley sat very still at the kitchen table. So still in fact, he was barely breathing. Many years of marriage, plus a built-in sense of survival told him that to move right now would in fact be a _very bad idea_.

Molly Weasley was also still. However this wasn't a calm stillness, it was the stillness of a Dragon about to erupt into flame. One finger tapped repetitively on one arm as her eyes flickered from the door to the clock and back to the door again. The kitchen gleamed, it always did when Molly Weasley was worried, stressed or annoyed.

The kitchen gleamed a lot of the time.

Arthur Weasley felt the silence start to press in on him. He hadn't felt this tense in... actually he'd felt tense a lot this year but generally for very different reasons. Well, he mused on it a bit, maybe not THAT different.

The clock struck midnight with a boom that echoed around the small kitchen. Arthur watched Molly visibly swell.

"Midnight!" She started to pace up and down the kitchen, "Midnight!! I don't care who they think they are Arthur but as long as their under MY roof..." She trailed off. There was the distinct sound of people making their way none-too-subtly up the garden path. Arthur instinctively moved behind his wife, one hand on her shoulder. He wasn't quite sure if it was to offer her comfort and support, to restrain her or just an act of self-preservation. Perhaps it was all three. One thing he was sure of though, as he heard the sound of a gnome being unceremoniously booted off the garden path, Molly Weasley was perfectly capable of dealing with whatever came through the kitchen door.

They would just have to handle themselves.

A thud told the Weasley's that the small procession had reached the kitchen door. Muffled swearing interspersed with bursts of giggling filtered through as one of the party began hammering on the wood.

"Oh Merlin..." One indistinct voice sounded harassed, "Look can you just _stop _him, I know I can remember the password in a minute..."

Molly Weasley listened to the little scene impassively. Arthur winced instinctively as she raised one arm and aimed it. One softly muttered word and the door burst inwards.

A tangle of arms and legs flew into the kitchen. Harry Potter managed to grasp hold of the frame as his feet skidded towards the table. Hermione Granger was less fortunate as her attempts to stay upright were hampered by Ron Weasley who simply fell flat onto the floor, grasping Hermione's knees as he went. She squealed as she collapsed ungracefully onto the prone form of the red-head who was now cuddling her legs to him with a beatific smile on his face.

"Y'know 'Mione," He slurred happily, "You've got lovely knees... they're all round." And with that he began snoring gently.

Arthur was forced to bite his lip to keep from collapsing into laughter. A slight shaking of the shoulders, however, gave him away and he was treated to a very suspicious glare from his wife before she turned her attention back to the kitchen floor.

A very red Hermione was attempting to pull Ron back onto his feet, aided by a slightly swaying Harry Potter who was blinking owlishly behind his glasses as he attempted to focus.

"Ron!" He gave his recumbent friend a shake, "Wake up you git..." He trailed off in panic as he remembered where he was. "I mean... Oh bugger." Hermione bit her lip but was unable to stop the giggles which erupted out of her, nearly sending the shaky trio crashing back onto the kitchen tiles. One basilisk glance from Molly, however, was enough to stop her and she cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley." She said cautiously, Arthur was impressed at her sober tone, "We didn't mean to be so late." Hermione glanced pleadingly at Harry who merely shook his head with his lips pursed shut, evidently afraid to open them in case he uttered even more profanities in front of his best friends parents. Hermione scowled at him. "We just..." She cleared her throat again, "We thought we'd go to have a drink after we finished shopping and Harry knew this muggle pub in London..." Ron's eyes snapped open.

"Muggle pubs are great!" He enthused before anyone could stop him, "An' they know loadsha great poems," He screwed up his face in an effort to remember, a rising panic stole over Harry's features. Ron cleared his throat theatrically, "There once was a man from Nantucket..." a hand quickly clapped itself over his mouth, muffling whatever line came next. Molly transferred her gaze to a very red Harry Potter.

"Erm..." He stuttered, "Well, and it turned they had an offer on tequila..." He trailed off into an embarrassed silence and hiccoughed miserably, swaying on his feet.

Arthur had to stifle his laughter again. Who would've thought that mere weeks after staring down one of the most evil wizards of all time Harry James Potter would be staring at his feet in the kitchen of the Burrow trying to explain to an irate mother why exactly he was late home and unable to stand up straight. If only the prophet could see the "chosen one" now, he thought wryly.

"I see." Molly Weasley's tone was icy. "Well..." She was cut off as her youngest son's eyes flew open.

"Mum!" Before either one of his friends could stop him Ron Weasley lurched forwards with his arms open. He collapsed into Molly who caught him instinctively and staggered slightly under the weight. Arthur snorted quietly at the look of shock on his wife's face. Hermione and Harry had gone very still, even managing to stay in one place for a few minutes.

Oblivious to the danger he'd just thrust himself into Ron favoured his Mum with an enormous smile. "I do love you Mum." He said happily, nearly knocking her of balance as he threw his arms around her neck and favoured her to an enormous cuddle. Molly stood in a stunned silence, dwarfed by Ron's height. After a few tense moments she tightened her arms around her son and buried her face in his chest.

"I love you too Ronnie." Her voice was slightly muffled and Arthur wondered if anyone else could hear the hint of a quaver in her voice. Ron surfaced from the hug and lighted on his father still stood behind his Mum.

"Dad!" Arthur staggered as the full-grown weight of his little boy plummeted into him. "I love you as well Dad." His son informed him from his shoulder. Arthur simply smiled and held his boy to him. He could hear Molly surreptitiously blowing her nose and evidently Hermione and Harry heard it too as they were at either side of Ron and subtly took one arm each.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled as he threw Ron's arm over one shoulder. "We'll go to bed now."

Mrs Weasley sniffed and nodded.

"Yes, I'll deal with you all in the morning." She watched the little procession head to the stairs, "Oh, and Harry, Hermione dears?" She called after them, caught off balance Harry swung round and nearly sent the trio plummeting back to the floor, Hermione caught the brunt of Ron's weight and squealed again. "Your OWN beds if you please."

Harry and Hermione blushed a deep scarlet as Ron sniggered.

"Yeah Mr Potter," Ron sputtered, "You stay away from my little sister, I know about these "talks" down by the riv..." A hand clamped over Ron's mouth again. Arthur couldn't hold in a snort of laughter as Harry stared in terror at the two Weasely's. At the sound of laughter he gave them a sheepish smile.

"Course," He shouldered Ron's weight again, "Night."

"Goodnight Boys and Girl," The couple watched as the trio headed out of sight followed by the sound of hushed bickering. One distinct sentence floated down the stairs.

"Y'know Mione, you really do have a lovely bum." A squeal echoed down the stairs followed by a scandalised "Ronald!"

Then they heard two separate doors close.

Arthur struggled to force down his laughter, unsure of what he would find when he turned to face his wife. He was therefore surprised to find her... smiling.

"Oh Arthur," She turned two shining eyes onto him, "Isn't it wonderful?" Arthur furrowed his brow.

"Wonderful?" He questioned, mentally replaying the events of a few moments before and wondering if he'd missed something. "I thought you'd be thinking up some horrible punishment, after all that's what you did with all the others..." He trailed off with dawning comprehension. Molly sniffed again and beamed.

"Exactly." She pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down, quickly conjuring up two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "Do you remember the first time Bill and Charlie came home in that state?"

Arthur chuckled, reaching for his chipped mug. He remembered it well if only for the reaction of his incensed wife. "It was after they won the Quidditch cup final for Gryffindor wasn't it?" He mused, Bill had just completed his final NEWT exams and Charlie his OWLS. The two of them had come home for the summer and one evening had disappeared entirely. Later on Mrs Weasley had discovered them in the apple orchard with an almost empty bottle of firewhisky and several empty bottles of muggle lager singing some very loud songs about Martha the muggle who could evidently perform some extremely clever tricks with a bottle.

Mrs Weasley smiled nostalgically, "That taught Charlie not to try to keep up with Bill." Arthur smirked, Charlie hadn't even been in a fit state to punish for two days after the event and it had been left to Bill to clean up the projectile vomit.

"Even Percy managed it, once." Arthur remarked mildly, it had only been in the past month or so that he could bring up Percy's name without flinching. Molly smiled.

"Only Percy could manage to get drunk on two pints of mead." She giggled slightly to herself, "He came home, fell over the kitchen table and took himself to bed." The kitchen fell quiet as the couple lapsed back in reminiscing. Molly murmured a spell to re-heat her mug and took a deep breath. "Of course Fred and George..." She trailed off, a tear ran down one cheek. Arthur grasped her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Fred and George had to do it properly." He smiled sadly, "and younger than any of the others of course." Molly gave a tired chuckle. It was doubtful any of the family would forget the fateful afternoon when the two 15 year old twins broke into Auntie Muriel's sherry supply at the annual family BBQ. By the time anyone had tracked down the missing bottles they'd managed to climb onto the roof and were serenading the entire gathering with a revised edition of "Kneazles Measles". Suffice to say the new edition featured several new body-parts which had inexplicably failed to make the original.

"It took days for my throat to recover." Molly reminisced, she sighed heavily and took another sip of her chocolate. "There were times when I wondered if any of those three would do the things all the others did." Arthur nodded in understanding and played with his mug.

"They were always too busy saving the world." He smiled wistfully. One of the worst things he'd ever experienced as a father was the feeling that there was nothing he could do to share the burden his son and the boy he thought of as a son carried. "It looks like they're finally making up for it now."

Molly beamed. "Oh yes, it's just all so blessedly... _normal_."

The couple entwined their fingers in the middle of the table, lost in memories of the last year. Molly sniffed loudly and finished her drink, banishing the mugs to the sink with one flick of her wand.

"Shall we go to bed?"

Arthur nodded and stood with her, ensuring the security of the house with a few sweeps of his wand. Some habits were hard to break and the constant photographers which seemed to be lurking everywhere could be extremely inventive. Molly started humming to herself as they head towards the stairs.

"I've got some flobberworms that need to be sorted through for the compost heap." She said in an off-hand manner. "Do you think that would do?"

It took a while for Arthur to catch on but he soon started to smile.

"Your inventiveness never ceases to amaze me dear."

Molly chuckled. "Oh and Arthur?"

"Yes dear?"

"Make good and sure to hide the pepper-up won't you?"

Laughter echoed down into the darkened kitchen. The healing had begun.

_End_


End file.
